The number of telecommunication services offered in a communication network continues to increase. The invention addresses a group of such telecommunication services known under the name "Kiosk Services."
A potential implementation and realization of this group of services according to the IN concept (IN=intelligent network) is described in the article "Dienste in Intelligenten Netzen" ("Services in intelligent networks") by X. Du Vachat et al., Elektrisches Nachrichtenwesen, Vol. 63, No. 4, 1989.
A communication network comprises so-called service switching points providing a service user with access to the kiosk service. The kiosk service itself is implemented in a so-called service control point via a service program. In this case, the kiosk service is not provided by a network provider, meaning the public or private company which operates the network and provides the IN-infrastructure for the services, but by a service provider.
Here, a service request is routed from the service user via the service switching point to the service control point which provides the kiosk service. A kiosk service of this type comprises, for example, an information service providing weather forecasts, stock reports and sports results, where the service user is charged a higher charge than the basic calling charge. Charging this higher charge is implemented by using a faster charge pulse rate for the connection to the kiosk service in the communication network. Consequently, both the charges for using the kiosk service and the basic telephone toll charges are automatically charged to the telephone account of the service user and collected by the network operator.
This method for charging for a kiosk service is disadvantageous in that the charge for the kiosk service is strongly linked to the charge for the basic telephone toll charges. As a result, the service provider is severely limited in designing his charge concept.